Fifty apprenticeships are to be offered as part of a new proposed underground mining scheme.

Plans were shown at a recent open weekend by West Cumbria Mining Ltd at Whitehaven.

The company submitted a planning application to Cumbria County Council last month to extract coking coal off the coast of St Bees, with a processing plant on the former Marchon site at Kells.

Helen Davies, communications manager at West Cumbria Mining Ltd, said the company would work with local colleges to provide the training programmes required to achieve formal qualifications in a variety of apprenticeship roles.

These included electrician, mobile equipment mechanic (heavy diesel), business administration/accounting and warehousing and storage.

She said: "We will run apprenticeship programmes which are designed to deliver the high standard of learning needed to gain a recognised practical qualification.

"Our approach aims to provide opportunities for those who are keen to take on new challenges in the modern world of mining."

The apprenticeships will cover four levels from intermediate to degree.

Ms Davies added: "We aim to operate a state-of-the-art colliery, which includes an underground mine, surface processing and materials handling facilities, materials transportation infrastructure, railway logistics and deep water port."

The scheme will employ more than 500 people and bosses have pledged that at least 80 per cent of these positions will go to people living within a 20-mile radius of Whitehaven.

Offshore exploration is currently taking place, with a team of geologists working from a large jack-up barge off St Bees Head. The platform stands on the seabed, has living accommodation for up to 40 people and carries a drill used for collecting rock cores down to more than 600m below the surface, although the sea water depth is typically 20m to 25m.

The team aims to learn more about the geology and take samples for quality assessments, which will help with the detailed design of the mine layout.

WCM hopes to begin construction next spring with coal production expected by the end of 2019.